Winners and Grinners

The winners of my blog giveaways were:

1. Tabitha (commenter #19), a newer quilter in Ohio who won Pineapple Fabrics' four jelly rolls of Painter's Palette Solids, and a mini Painter's Palette color card
2. Martha (commenter #11) who won a PDF of her choice from Landauer Publishing
3. Kim (commenter #2), a very good Iowa friend who won a digital copy of Curated Quilts.

I thought these were wonderful, highly-desirable giveaway items - thank you to my generous sponsors! - so I was surprised at the lower number of comments than in past giveaways. Most often I've had more than 100 commenters. For these giveaways there were 56 commenters for fabric and 27 commenters for digital items. It's evident that interest in social media platforms has changed. The once wildly popular blog giveaways have been replaced with easier and faster Instagram giveaways.

Still, I want to extend my thanks to all of you for entering, and especially for your lovely comments. I could spend a whole day replying! And thanks for your stick-to-itiveness at reading blog posts. Mwah! 😘

Sewing has been happening here in a random sort of way. I'm jumping among several WIPs - AKA not finishing anything. The current project that has my attention is the Slopes quilt I stopped working on last May. It's a pattern in Amanda Jean's book No Scrap Left Behind, and is made from string scraps. I stopped working on it because I was running low on color scraps, especially purple. However, thanks to a generous offer from Amanda Jean (CrazyMomQuilts) herself, she sent a bunch of purples she had collected.

Now that I've begun this rainbow plan, if I piece it as is, Slopes will be wider than it is high! I've been playing with another scrappy block made with a Bloc Loc ruler called "Triangle in a Square." I could insert these blocks between a few rows to make the quilt "taller."

They would fit in those empty spaces. But I haven't settled on anything. I'll play more today.

After sharing in my giveaway post that I was celebrating nine years of blogging, and that my first blog post was about making pavlova for Australia Day, I started craving pavlova! I decided to make it again and followed the easy recipe here on Allrecipes.com.

First, whip the egg whites into a meringue, and then puddle the meringue in a 9" circle onto parchment paper. To get the circle, I drew around a cake pan on the back of the parchment paper.

After it's baked, it looks like this, prettily cracked.

Whip a carton of heavy whipping cream - I didn't add sweetener, but you could - spread it on top of the meringue, and finish it with fruit that's been flavored with a little vanilla, balsamic vinegar, and sugar (that's also a recipe).

Cut a slice. Oh my! Quite honestly, I had to eat two slices. I also shared with Dan and neighbor-quilt-y-friend Becky. I need to make this more often! It's so good.

Two weeks ago, when I was getting ready to fly to Kansas City, I packed my 64" X 80" Rainbow Strings quilt (string-pieced onto telephone book pages) in my suitcase. Once in KC, I quietly handed off the quilt to my nephew's wife and asked only that I get a picture of their daughter with the quilt. Look at how they came through! What a precious picture of 14 month-old Maddie. Isn't she a doll? As a quilt maker, it's heartwarming to know a quilt is appreciated and being used.

Did you get to see the eclipse of the moon this morning? I saw it, but barely. Tonight is when we get to see a super moon (that's when the moon is nearest the earth, called a perigee) and a blue moon (a full moon happening twice in a month). This is my layman's photo of the moon rise over my house last night, a day before the super moon/full moon. I hope you get to see it tonight. I'm sure it will be awesome.

And speaking of natural wonders... it's been cold here in Florida this winter. This morning we woke to a temperature of 39 degrees. It's not the first time we've been in the 30s either! If you're planning to make a wintertime get-away to Florida, be sure to pack your Cuddlduds! Linda

Table Runner

Here's a newly sewn table runner made from a nice border stripe. The pattern is the same as one I used previously to make two placemats. Sorry, but the free pattern is no longer available on Timeless Treasures' website. 

And in other happenings...For the second time, I made pavlova, a traditional Australian dessert. I topped it with strawberries and kiwi - passionfruit isn't available here. My quilting group, the Batting Buds was here last evening and tried pav for the first time. Of course they liked it! Next thing you know, we'll all be speaking with a lovely Aussie accent! 

Today we've had an unseasonably warm (54F - 12C) and sunny winter day. Instead of sewing, my VW Bug got a good wash and vacuum. And wouldn't you know...it's supposed to rain Thursday.  

Australia Day

I'm American, but with a child in Sydney, Australia, I have a special connection to that lovely country. To honor Australia Day, January 26, I made pavlova for the first time. It's a meringue and whipped cream dessert topped with fruit, and it's absolutely yummy! Good on 'ya, Aussies!